The roiling economy appears to be ripping into the ranks of upper management, as the chief executive turnover rate is at an all-time high. This year, 1,132 CEOs have left their posts, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Challenger chief executive John A. Challenger said the rise in the turnover rate probably reflects increasing pressure on corporate leaders from their boards and shareholders. Turnover was heaviest in the healthcare sector, with 206 departures. In part, however, that stems from the large number of small healthcare businesses, Challenger said.
Five Central Florida doctors have been disciplined in separate cases involving wrong-site surgeries or incorrect procedures being carried out. The Florida Board of Medicine voted to fine Orlando surgeon Jonathan Greenberg $5,000 for operating on the wrong disc in a patient's back in September 2006. The board also fined Orlando urologist Stephen Butler $10,000 for operating on the wrong testicle of a patient during an April 2007 procedure. Three other cases involved cataract procedures in which doctors initially put the wrong kind of lens implants in their patients, according to state documents.
Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health, for example. Now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences.
In this editorial from the Boston Globe, editors say a a spate of health-facility construction in Massachusetts will inevitably add to the medical bills that employers and consumers must pay. "This boom in bricks and mortar is coming just as new data on patients' long waits for appointments with primary-care physicians show that the real need in the healthcare system is for more of these front-line practitioners," the editorial states. The article says that while expanding the corps of primary-care doctors is a problem that will require long-term changes in the incentives for medical students choosing specialties, the state can use its regulatory authority to crack down on questionable new health construction projects.
In this editorial from the New York Times, editors praise the fact that Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for the added cost of treating patients who acquire any of 10 "reasonably preventable" conditions while hospitalized. The editorial says, however, that the policy focuses exclusively on hospitals, as directed by Congress, and lets doctors off scot-free.
Earlier this month, a doctor who serves underinsured patients received a letter from Danville (VA) Regional Medical Center informing him that after 14 years, his services were no longer required. Two days later, he officially lost his job. "I wish I could say I understand it," said Phillip Hale, MD. "It seems to be driven by (the hospital's) bottom line mentality without really looking at the big picture." Hale said Family Healthcare Center where he practiced was losing money and he believes that led to the termination of his contract.